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A team taking part in the annual 'Man Powered Flight' competition have faced backlash after entering dressed as The A-Team – with one member in blackface as B.A. Baracus.
The A-Team's other three white characters – Hannibal, Face, and Murdoch – were depicted using printed masks.
One young man raised the issue of whether this was an appropriate fancy dress choice for a group of caucasian people, through a post on the 21,000-member-strong 'Guernsey People Have Your Say' Facebook group Facebook group.
That post received more than 600 comments within 48 hours.
However, the organisers of Guernsey Harbour Carnival – in which the 'Man Powered Flight' contest is an annual fixture – defended the participants, saying that there was "absolutely no racist intent whatsoever".
Joe Oliver – on behalf of the Harbour Carnival Committee – told Express that he had been "made aware of a Facebook post that someone was offended that someone had dressed up as Mr T, though we understand that this comment has now been deleted".
Despite concerns raised online, Mr Oliver confirmed that there hadn't been any complaints to the Harbour Carnival organisers about the choice of costume.
Guernsey Police also told Express that: "At this time we’ve not had any complaint regarding this matter."
The-A Team costumes featured three people in masks as the white characters Murdoch, Face and Hannibal, while the person dressed as B.A. Baracus wore brown face paint and was wearing a brown bodysuit.
Mr Oliver defended the A-Team group, saying they had done a "very good job".
He added: "There was absolutely no racist intent whatsoever and I don't believe that anyone could really think that it was anything other than a good natured representation for an event that raises a great deal of money for good causes.
"The lady depicted a fictional TV character (that isn't a racist character), rather than a general racial slur. As far as we are concerned, her team had just as good a theme as The Minions, who actually won the 'Best Dressed Team' in the end.
"We don't have any particular criteria for fancy dress for any of the team events – we expect that the entrants would use their judgment just as they would on a night out or a fancy dress party."
FOCUS: The history of blackface and how it came to Guernsey's Harbour Carnival
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